Report on juvenile recidivism rates
The Maryland Attorney General's Juvenile Justice Monitoring Unit released a report today that concludes there is a high recidivism rate among juvenile offenders held at various institutions such as the Victor Cullen Center in Western Maryland and the Waxter Girl's Center in Prince George's County.
The report concludes that 229 youths successfully completed youth center programs in fiscal year 2006 and 58 percent were re-arrested within one year of being discharged. That is up from the usual 51 percent, the report says. Cullen, which opened last year, has a recidivism rate of 33 percent so far, the report says.
The report concludes that "Maryland does not have the number of effective programs, either residential or community-based, to meet youth needs. ... This administration has worked with great dedication to turn around a situation that was many years in the making. It is a gargantuan task. While more beds are needed to treat Maryland's delinquent youth in-state, development of new facilities should be a thoughtful, deliberate process, based on existing research."
The Maryland Department of Juvenile Services fired back, saying the report "misstates and misses important aspects of the bigger picture of system reform." DJS officials said called the comparisons "'apples-to-oranges' reasoning" that gives a faulty picture of recidivism rates. For example, the report says Maryland has a high recidivism rate compared with Missouri, but DJS officials say the standards used to define recidivism are stricter in Missouri and therefore the numbers are lower.
The reports are long. I'll leave them for you to read and I'd be interested in your comments:
1. Juvenile Justice Monitoring Unit report
2. Response from the Department of Juvenile Services
3. Report on individual facilities
4. Response on facilities from Department of Juvenile Services
Comments
I don't even have to read these articles to know what they entail. While working in CPS for Baltimore City DSS I witnessed first hand the same children who use DJJ as a revolving door. In and out-in and out. @ words come to mind. MENTAL HEALTH!! Many times I referred these same children to mental health programs and went back to check on them months later to find that tehy could not get the services due to LACK OF PROGRAMS. Can you say adult offenders? A few more years down the road they will be in the adult system where they will still have the same mental health issues, that were never treated, and you have time bombs ready to explode!!!!! An example is my son Roger Shifflette-hostage incident last week. Mary Pizzica
Posted by: Mary Pizzica | September 17, 2008 5:46 AM
I don't even have to read these articles to know what they entail. While working in CPS for Baltimore City DSS I witnessed first hand the same children who use DJJ as a revolving door. In and out-in and out. @ words come to mind. MENTAL HEALTH!! Many times I referred these same children to mental health programs and went back to check on them months later to find that tehy could not get the services due to LACK OF PROGRAMS. Can you say adult offenders? A few more years down the road they will be in the adult system where they will still have the same mental health issues, that were never treated, and you have time bombs ready to explode!!!!! An example is my son Roger Shifflette-hostage incident last week. Mary Pizzica
Posted by: Mary Pizzica | September 17, 2008 6:59 PM
these young ppl are not getting help in the home. young people who commit these crimes should have there parents held responsible with strickt jail time!! we should have a law in place that if you are a juvinile and commit 3 crimes you get sent to millitary service!! not a jail were they come out more brazen to comitt more crimes!! "three strikes and your out" no more full jail cells and less criminals off our streets..plus they get the life lessons of being a responsible and respectable person.these kids have no direction in life!! crime to them, is what they think is being looked up too.we need to change there direction in life for a safer america.
Posted by: vjg | September 23, 2008 5:46 PM
Majority of the recidivist are the youth..It is inherent to them to be curious in such activities which are something new to them..Proper guidance of the family is highly needed in order to somehow lessen the burden that the government is trying to cope with. State budgets are hurting in the U.S. Some state budgets have reached a crisis stage, such as in California, where the state is over $40 billion in the hole. In order to stem the amount of spending, and in order for the states to avoid getting massive personal loans, they’ve decided to let go of some segments of the prison population. The worry is that the release won’t have any good effects, and that more money will be spent on recidivism, or offenders re-offending and retuning to prison upon release. Officials insist that they will only be releasing prisoners who are the least likely to re-offend, and can be better monitored from home. If this does result in a new crime wave, it won’t be saving any state budgets, or the jobs of the people that released the prisoners.
Posted by: Jeremiah E. | March 16, 2009 6:34 AM